Well Max didn't win that race on merit. The championship? Well he raced clean so I guess so. If roles were reversed Lewis would have taken it...
I don’t think masi has the mental capacity needed to make the right decisions at pace needed during a race.
Hamilton has been weighed and he’s been measured and he’s been found wanting. Lewis the loser
Obvious troll aside it’s got to be a tough one to swallow because he can rightly look back and say that actually as a driver he did absolutely everything right and had that race fairly won.
burner
Free Member
Hamilton has been weighed and he’s been measured and he’s been found wanting. Lewis the loser
LOL Lost his way to 7 championships you absolute tool
Well Max didn’t win that race in merit. The championship? Well he raced clean so
I’m not entirely sure (a) which championship you were watching or (b) what you’re implying.
still I think the driver that has won the most races should ultimately win the championship. Great drivers ahead of the rest by a country mile. Also amazing support drive by Perez but where was Bottas?
Bottas should have stuck it in the wall
I don’t think masi has the mental capacity needed to make the right decisions at pace needed during a race.
He's certainly got a long way to go to fill Charlie's boots.
Jos Verstappen's response just now...
"during the race, I walked away from the pit cos I didn't believe he (Max) could do it any more, but I came back for that last lap"
Sums the whole debacle up for me! 🤦🏻
I’m not entirely sure (a) which championship you were watching or (b) what you’re implying.
My view before the race was whichever one of them won today, so long as it was a clean race, deserved the WC.
Max didn't do anything wrong at the end. He just took what was handed to him so I am sticking with my thoughts.
I'm a massive massive Lewis fan BTW and would have loved to see him win 8 and yes he was robbed today but not by Max personally.
Absolute farce, restart of the race should be based on time difference when it was stopped – easy enough to sort!
That has never been the rule. There is a strong argument IMO for not allowing tyre changes under the safety car unless you have a puncture. But over the past decade or so f1 has become increasingly dependant on artificial "plot devices" to increase the entertainment value rather than just sorting out a ruleset that allows better closer racing, so I wouldn't expect any rule changes that support sporting merit. This years nasty spectacle has just been the culmination of that.
With 20/20 hindsight Merc could've pitted Lewis under the last SC - if Max stayed out for track position that last lap would've been reversed, but I'm not 100% sure they'd both have finished.
In other news, Tsunoda was fourth!
4.12.12 If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all teams via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car.
This will only apply to cars that were lapped at the time they crossed the Line at the end of the lap during which they crossed the first Safety Car line for the second time after the safety car was deployed.
Having overtaken the cars on the lead lap and the safety car these cars should then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without overtaking, and make every effort to take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car. Whilst they are overtaking, and in order to ensure this may be carried out safely, the cars on the lead lap must always stay on the racing line unless deviating from it is unavoidable. Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.
If the clerk of the course considers track conditions are unsuitable for overtaking the message "OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED" will be sent to all teams via the official messaging system.
None of that was followed correctly. Mercedes have multiple avenues to appeal this result.
That's me done with F1 now.
The obvious thing to do is red flag, let everyone change tyres, re-grid then have 3 laps of racing. Still a massively improved situation for Verstappen.
Unfortunately...
I don’t think masi has the mental capacity needed to make the right decisions at pace needed during a race.
@burner, I’m not a Lewis Fan what so ever, but he clearly was the better driver in this race.
I’m glad Max won, but to in anyway criticise Lewis is plain idiocy.
To me, if the general rules are always the same, let lapped racers through, then the right decision was ultimately made. Max won it on strategy.
I do think Lewis should have pitted, surely he would still have been 2nd when the lapped drivers came through?
Amazing how Jos Verstappen has been sport-washed by his son's efforts, I really don't want to hear the opinions of a violent misogynist on TV.
Ultimately I'm happy for Max, he's been relentless, and it was cool to see him smiling for a change. I think whatever decision Masi would've made there he was going to upset some-one! I do think both Mercedes and RB can complain about inconsistent decisions though. The FIA need to sort that out.
I do think Lewis should have pitted, surely he would still have been 2nd when the lapped drivers came through?
In retrospect, better than what he ended up with. But the risk is that the race then ends under the SC, or the lapped cars do not pass, and he's just handed over the position, the race and the championship.
It's either corrupt or completely incompetent from the race director. Either is unacceptable
Bottas should have stuck it in the wall
I wish he had, hopefully he wouldn't have gotten that wrong too
To me, if the general rules are always the same, let lapped racers through, then the right decision was ultimately made.
Almost right but not exactly. It should be all lapped cars let through not just a few. That decision should not be made immediately before pulling in the SC haven't previously been saying lapped cars would not be released.
why is no-one asking Horner whether he knows what the regs say?
Think this is going to end up in court, not all lapped cars were allowed to unlap and the safety car didn't pit the lap after lapped cars had unlapped themselves. It sounds like under the regs, the race should have finished under safety car.
With 20/20 hindsight Merc could’ve pitted Lewis under the last SC – if Max stayed out for track position that last lap would’ve been reversed, but I’m not 100% sure they’d both have finished.
But then Merc are taking a gamble that Max (on fresher tyres) stays out and that the FIA then arbitrarily apply some (but not all) aspects of the rules in order to artificially manufacturer a one lap shoot-out. Heck of a gamble to take.
So once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the safety car comes in an the end of the next lap, they didn’t do that either did they?
It sounds like under the regs, the race should have finished under safety car.
Yeah, I think they were desperate to get a spectacle out of it. Any other race, I think they'd have done that.
So once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the safety car comes in an the end of the next lap, they didn’t do that either did they?
Not enough time to do all that, allow the lapped cars to get through and out of the way and then for one more lap. They were already approaching final lap. The "solution" was a total mess to get around that.
In the absence of having a crystal ball, the decisions not to put LH under the VSC then the SC were not strategic mistakes.
Y'know I don't think it will (go to court), and it wouldn't be the right thing to do. No one could've foreseen Latifi crashing, and that's just the way it goes sometimes.
I don’t follow F1, I occasionally watch a race and quite enjoy it.
But
Why does F1 bring out so much of this kind of attitude?
Hahahahabahha Lewis the loser
I see it quite a lot, everyone seems to have a driver that they hate.
So once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the safety car comes in an the end of the next lap, they didn’t do that either did they?
That's how I read it.
I think Merc called it right with the cards they were dealt, and Lewis drove superbly to hold of Max on newer tyres. They were absolutely robbed at the end by not sticking to the rules
It's hard to argue with the desire to go racing, or to create a spectacle. It's entertainment in the end.
So once the last lapped car has passed the leader, the safety car comes in an the end of the next lap, they didn’t do that either did they?
Can anything happen with such a clear breach?
No one could’ve foreseen Latifi crashing, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
No, but there are a set of procedures on what happens should someone crash, so you can run scenarios based on crashes at various points, not whether or not procedures will/will not/will be sort of followed.
Well, I for one am pleased for Max. I am well aware that isn’t the STW consensus
There have always been controversial decisions made in F1, many more it would appear in recent years as money and ‘spectacle’ overtook the racing.
Hamilton gracious in defeat.
“Firstly a big congratulations to Max and to his team,” he says. “We have done a great job this year. Everyone has worked so hard in the most difficult of seasons. I’ve been feeling great in the car this past couple of months. I wish everyone to stay safe and have a good Christmas with their families.”
There's probably some get-out that says the race director can apply his discretion to interpret the rules....
If they hadn't let the lapped cars through and Max just got blue flags then it still probably would have been a good last lap given his tyres. There was no way Lewis was going to win with how they restarted
Proper nail biter. Would have loved to have seen Lewis win, but Max had the luck running his way today. Did get the impression that Masi didn't want to be seen to do anything that might upset RB. Turned off the TV as I didn't think I could stand to see Horner being smug and Coulthard kissing his arse.
He’d still have been well ahead by the overtaking points. It took Hamilton a couple of laps to get through those 5 in racing conditions.
It's Sky coverage, so Coulthard nowhere to be seen. Just don't watch the highlights show later
No, but there are a set of procedures
Ultimately it's up to the race director though, and I don't think it'll do anyone any good to change the decision after the race has finished.
It’s hard to argue with the desire to go racing, or to create a spectacle. It’s entertainment in the end.
At the cost of shafting the driver that had dominanted the race and coating him the championship because someone else binned it into a wall
I don't think Merc will appeal. I don't think Lewis would particularly want to win that way and Merc will look better for it also
I could well be wrong! Looks like they've lodged two protests 🙂
I’ve been happy to give Masi the benefit of the doubt all season, given how borderline some of the decisions were and his lack of experience - CW had been doing the job for years before we ever got to hear all this stuff on the radios.
But that was too much of a cluster****. He should make a decision, communicate it and then stick with it. Not make one and then change his mind, and end up doing something that’s not a correct application if the rules.
I don’t think Mercedes should bother protesting it though, and I’m not sure they will, beyond pointing out how much Masi cocked it up. If that race had finished under the SC nobody would have thought it an injustice.
